LETTER: Questioning truth of MP’s column

The first paragraph in Calkins’ column reads as if we all started paying a new tax this month. He has omitted the important fact that, “the massive carbon tax that came into force on Jan. 1,” affects Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick. Not Alberta.

Calkins also failed to mention the “Alberta climate leadership adjustment rebate” which my family receives, along with every other Alberta household that earns less than low six figures a year. Based on my family’s spending habits and consumption of fuel, the rebate we receive in fact exceeds what we spend in tax by at least 10%.

Calkins states that, “large emitters are exempted from the taxes that families, farms, and small businesses are all being forced to pay”. While true, his statement makes it seem like large emitters pay no carbon tax at all. Actually, facilities that emit more than 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas are subject to the Specified Gas Emitters Regulation or Carbon Competitiveness Incentive Regulation.

Since Calkins mentions farms, it is also important to remember that farm fuel is exempt from the carbon tax.

Although Calkins’ statement that, “Canadians need a government that [will] protect and conserve our environment” is of course correct, he does not state what the Conservatives propose. I reviewed both the Conservative Party of Canada’s website and Calkins’s website and found no recent information about the environment. It’s simply not there.

If Calkins feels he has to misrepresent or omit facts in order to make his point, one must question whether or not his point is truly valid.